Minor league roster news and notes (Baysox all-stars)

In roster news from the minors today, Bowie has activated lefty pitcher Chad Thall from the temporary inactive list. He is 1-0, 4.32 in 12 Baysox games this season with five walks and 14 strikeouts in 16 2/3 innings.

The Delmarva Shorebirds have put first baseman Tyler Stampone on the disabled list with a left hand injury and received IF Mike Mooney from the Gulf Coast League.

Stampone was batting .249-0-28 in 59 games and is second on the Delmarva club in RBI.

With Pat Egan and Zach Britton moving up to Norfolk, Double-A Bowie could be adding another pitcher soon, but no announcement has been made yet on that.

O’s reliever Mike Gonzalez is scheduled to pitch in relief tonight for Aberdeen at Ripken Stadium. He will throw one inning at some point in the middle of the game.

Contrary to something that was mentioned by a reader earlier today on one of my blogs, Joe Mahoney has not been promoted to Bowie. He remains with the Frederick Keys.

Last year’s first-round pick, pitcher Matt Hobgood, could be back on the mound for the Delmarva Shorebirds sometime early next week.

He has not started since June 11th due to a sore shoulder. He is expected to pitch as a starter when he gets back on the mound, but since he has been out awhile, might only go three or four innings in that first start back.

Brandon Snyder, out with a lower back injury, should return to Norfolk’s lineup in just a few days and Brandon Erbe could be back pitching by this weekend.

Here is what O’s director of player development John Stockstill said about moving Zach Britton from Bowie to Norfolk:

“He’s accomplished what he needed to at Double-A. He is coming off some real good outings and it was just a matter of time for him.

“He is showing some real good command right now of three and four pitches. Even when he is falling behind in counts, he comes right back throwing strikes.

“Along with that he has shown that he is real confident now that he can get better hitters out.”

Here is the release from the Baysox on their four All-Stars.

BOWIE, Md. - The Bowie Baysox announce today the selection of four players to the Western Division team for the 2010 Eastern League All-Star Game Wednesday, July 14, in Harrisburg, Pa. LHP Zach Britton and LF Tyler Henson were voted to the game by fans, they will be joined by 1B Joel Guzman and RHP Pedro Beato. For more information on the All-Star game, fans can visit www.senatorsbaseball.com.

Britton is unable to pitch in the All-Star game after being named to the U.S. Team in the 12th Annual XM Futures Game Sunday, July 11, in Anaheim, Calif. The left-handed starting pitcher is 7-3 with a 2.48 ERA in 15 games for the Baysox. He is currently on a five-game winning streak and leads the Eastern League with a 3.06 ground out-to-air out ratio.

Henson has been one of the Baysox most consistent players this season, leading the team in games played (74) batting average (.294) hits (83) triples (2) and on-base percentage (.350).

Guzman has been one of the Eastern League’s most feared hitters all year, mashing 17 home runs in his first 70 games while batting .276 with 52 RBIs. The slugger leads the team in home runs, RBIs, runs (48), total bases (140) and slugging percentage (.515).

Beato has been a valuable piece of the Baysox bullpen in his first year as a relief pitcher, going 3-0 with a 1.83 ERA and six saves in 39.1 innings of work. The right-hander leads the Baysox in appearances (24) and innings of relief (39.1).